The ten virgins: individual responsibility in Christ's absence

Professors, during the Lord's absence, are here presented as
virgins, who went out to meet the Bridegroom, and light Him to the
house. In this passage He is not the Bridegroom of the church. No
others go to meet Him for His marriage with the church in
heaven. The bride does not appear in this parable. Had she been
introduced, it would have been Jerusalem on earth. The assembly is
not seen in these chapters as such. It is here individual*
responsibility during the absence of Christ. That which
characterised the faithful at this period was that they came out
from the world, from Judaism, from everything, even religion
connected with the world, to go and meet the coming Lord. The
Jewish remnant, on the contrary, wait for Him in the place where
they are. If this expectation were real, the characteristic of one
governed by it would be the thought of that which was necessary for
the coming One -- the light, the oil. Otherwise, to be the
companions of professors meanwhile, and to carry lamps with them,
would satisfy the heart. Nevertheless they all took a position;
they go out, they leave the house to go out and meet the
Bridegroom. He tarries. This also has taken place. They all fall
asleep. The whole professing church has lost the thought of the
Lord's return -- even the faithful who have the Spirit. They must
also have gone in again somewhere to sleep at ease -- a place of
rest for the flesh. But at midnight, unexpectedly, the cry is
raised, "Behold, the bridegroom; go ye out to meet him." Alas! they
needed the same call as at first. They must again go out to meet
Him. The virgins rise, and trim their lamps. There is time enough
between the midnight cry and the Bridegroom's arrival to prove the
condition of each. There were some who had no oil in their
vessels. Their lamps were going out.** The wise had oil. It was
impossible for them to share it with the others. Those only who
possessed it went in with the Bridegroom to take part in the
marriage. He refused to acknowledge the others. What business had
they there? The virgins were to give light with their lamps. They
had not done it. Why should they share the feast? They had failed
in that which gave this place. What title had they to be at the
feast The virgins of the feast were virgins who accompanied the
Bridegroom. These had not done so. They were not admitted. But
even the faithful ones had forgotten the coming of Christ. They
fell asleep. But, at least, they possessed the essential thing that
corresponded to it. The grace of the Bridegroom causes the cry to
be raised which proclaims His arrival. It awakens them: they have
oil in their vessels; and the delay, which occasions the lamps of
the unfaithful to go out, gives the faithful time to be ready and
at their place; and forgetful as they may have been, they go in
with the Bridegroom to the wedding feast***

{*The servant in Matthew 24 is collective responsibility.}

{**The word rather signifies torches. With them they had, or
should have had, oil in vessels to feed the flame.}

{***And note here, the waking up is by the cry; it wakes up
all. There IS enough to rouse all professors to needed activity;
but the effect of this is to put them to the test, and separate
them. It was not the time of getting oil or supplies of grace to
those already professors; conversion is not the subject of the
parable. The question of getting oil is only I doubt now, to show
it was not the time of doing so.}

Individual faithfulness to an absent master: the three servants

We pass now from state of soul to service. For in truth (v. 14)
it is as a man who had gone away from his home -- for the Lord
dwelt in Israel -- and who commits his goods to his own servants,
and then departs. Here, we have the principles that characterise
faithful servants, or the contrary. It is not now the personal
individual expectation, and the possession of the oil, requisite
for a place in the Lord's glorious train; neither is it the public
and general position of those who were in the Master's service,
characterised as position and as a whole, and therefore represented
by a single servant; it is individual faithfulness in the service,
as before in the expectation of the Bridegroom. The Master on His
return will reckon with each one. Now what was their position? What
was the principle that would produce faithfulness? Observe, first
of all, that it is not providential gifts, earthly possessions,
that are meant. These are not the "goods that Jesus committed to
His servants when He went away. They were gifts which fitted them
to labour in His service while He was absent. The Master was
sovereign and wise. He gave differently to each, and to each
according to his capacity. Each was fitted for the service in which
he was employed, and the gifts needed for its fulfilment were
bestowed on him. Faithfulness to perform it was the only thing in
question. That which distinguished the faithful from the unfaithful
was confidence in their Master. They had sufficient confidence in
His well-known character, in His goodness, His love, to labour
without being authorised in any other manner than by their
knowledge of His personal character, and by the intelligence which
that confidence and that knowledge produced. Of what use to give
them sums of money, except to trade with them? Had He failed in
wisdom when He bestowed these gifts? The devotedness that flowed
from knowledge of their Master counted upon the love of Him whom
they knew. They laboured, and they were rewarded. This is the true
character, and the spring, of service in the church. It is this
that the third servant lacked. He did not know his Master -- he did
not trust in Him. He could not even do that which was consistent
with his own thoughts. He waited for some authorisation which
would be a security against the character his heart falsely gave
his Master. Those who knew their Master's character entered into
His joy.

The difference between this parable and that of Luke 19

There is this difference between the parable here and that in
Luke 19, that in the latter each man receives one pound; his
responsibility is the only question. And consequently he who gained
ten pounds is set over ten cities. Here the sovereignty and the
wisdom of God are concerned, and he who labours is guided by the
knowledge he has of his Master; and the counsels of God in grace
are accomplished. He who has the most receives yet more. At the
same time the reward is more general. He who has gained two
talents, and he who has gained five, enter alike into the joy of
the Lord whom they have served. They have known Him in His true
character, they enter into His full joy. The Lord grant it unto
us!

The parable of the ten virgins limited to the heavenly portion of the kingdom

There is more than this in the second parable -- that of the
virgins. It refers more directly and more exclusively to the
heavenly character of Christians. It is not the assembly, properly
so called, as a body; but the faithful have gone out to meet the
Bridegroom, who was returning to the marriage. At the time of His
return to execute judgment, the kingdom of heaven will assume the
character of persons come out from the world, and still more from
Judaism -- from all that, in point of religion, belongs to the
flesh -- from all established worldly form -- to have to do with
the coming Lord alone, and to go out to meet Him. This was the
character of the faithful from the beginning, as having part in the
kingdom of heaven, if they had understood the position in which
they were placed by the Lord's rejection. The virgins, it is true,
had gone in again; and this falsified their character; but the
midnight cry brought them back into their true place. Therefore
they go in with the Bridegroom, and there is no question of judging
and rewarding, but of being with Him. In the first parable, and in
that of Luke, the subject is His return to earth, and individual
recompense -- the results, in the kingdom, of their conduct during
the King's absence.* Service and its results are not the subject in
the parable of the virgins. Those who have no oil do not go in at
all. This is enough. The others have blessing in common; they go in
with the Bridegroom to the marriage. There is no question of
particular reward, nor of difference in conduct between them. It
was the heart's expectation, though grace had to bring them back
into it. Whatever the place of service might have been, the reward
was sure. This parable applies and is limited to the heavenly
portion of the kingdom as such. It is a similitude of the kingdom
of heaven.

{*In that of the talents in Matthew, we get indeed the ruling
over many things, the kingdom, but it is more full through the
expression, Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord; and the blessing
is conferred on all alike who were faithful in service, great or
small.}

The Master's delay

We may also remark here, that the delay of the Master is noticed
in the third parable likewise -- "after a long time" (v. 19). Their
faithfulness and their constancy were thus put to the test. May the
Lord give unto us to be found faithful and devoted, now in the end
of the ages, that He may say unto us, "Good and faithful servants!"
It is worthy of remark that in these parables those who are in
service, or go out at first, are the same as those found at the
end. The Lord would not hold out the supposition of delay beyond
"we who are alive and remain."*

{*So in the churches in Revelation, He takes existing churches,
though I doubt not it is a complete history of the church.}

Weeping and gnashing of teeth are his portion who has not
known his Master, who has outraged Him by the thoughts he
entertained of His character.

The judgment on earth of the living: the four different parties

In Matthew 24: 31 the prophetic history is resumed. There we saw
the Son of man appear like a flash of lightning, and afterwards
gather together the remnant of Israel from the four corners of the
earth. But this is not all. If He thus appears in a manner as
sudden as unexpected, He also establishes His throne of judgment
and glory on the earth. If He destroys His enemies whom He finds in
rebellion against Himself, He also sits upon His throne to judge
all nations. This is the judgment on earth of the living. Four
different parties are here found together; the Lord, the Son of man
Himself -- the brethren -- the sheep -- and the goats. I believe
the brethren here to be Jews, His disciples as Jews, whom He had
employed as His messengers, to preach the kingdom during His
absence. The gospel of the kingdom was to be preached as a
testimony to all nations; and then the end of the age should
come. At the time here spoken of, this has been done. The result
should be manifested before the throne of the Son of man on
earth. He calls these messengers therefore His brethren. He had
told them they should be ill-treated: they had been so. Still there
were some who had received their testimony.

The King's affection for, and value of, His faithful servants

Now such was His affection for His faithful servants, so highly
did He value them, that He judged those to whom the testimony was
sent according to the manner in which they had received these
messengers, whether well or ill, as though it had been done to
Himself. What an encouragement for His witnesses during that time
of trouble, tried as their faith should be in service! At the same
time it was justice morally to those who were judged; for they had
rejected the testimony by whomsoever it was rendered. We have also
the result of their conduct, both the one and the other. It is the
King -- for this is the character Christ has now taken on earth --
who pronounces judgment; and He calls the sheep (those who had
received the messengers, and had sympathised with them in their
afflictions and persecutions) to inherit the kingdom prepared for
them from the foundation of the world; for such had been the
purpose of God with respect to this earth. He had always the
kingdom in view. They were the blessed of His (the King's) Father.
It was not children who understood their own relation with their
Father; but they were the receivers of blessing from the Father of
the King of this world. Moreover they were to enter into
everlasting life; for such was the power, through grace, of the
word which they had received into their heart. Possessed of
everlasting life, they should be blessed in a world that was
blessed also. They who had despised the testimony and those that
bore it, had despised the King who sent them; they should go away
into everlasting punishment.

The effect of Christ's return

Thus the whole effect of Christ's coming, with regard to the
kingdom and to His messengers during His absence, is unfolded: with
respect to the Jews, as far as Matthew 24: 31; with respect to His
servants during His absence, to the end of Matthew 25: 30,
including the kingdom of heaven in its present condition, and the
heavenly rewards that shall be given; and then, from verse 31 to
the end of Matthew 25, with respect to the nations who shall be
blessed on the earth at His return.